Paying at the checkout
The customer links their payment method to their palm once and then pays with their hand. Works at the staffed checkout and at self-scan.
Nominated - Cupido Award 2026, Comeos Awards
Payments, access and loyalty. With just your hand.
Palmki Retail lets your customers and staff identify themselves with their palm. No card they forget, no app they don't download, no code they share.
Every shop knows the problem of the forgotten card
Loyalty cards stay at home or sit in an app nobody opens. Discount accounts get shared with the whole family. Queues form at the self-checkout because someone has to come over for every age check. And at the back of the store, badges for the back office, the safe and the delivery entrance have long stopped being with the right person.
The common thread: identification is tied to something you have to carry. And anything you have to carry can be forgotten, lost or handed over.
Palmki Retail replaces that with something the customer always has and cannot lend out: the vein pattern in their palm.
Three steps, 1 second
- 1
Register once
The customer or employee holds their hand above the scanner once. Palmki reads the vein pattern beneath the skin and converts it into an encrypted template. Registration takes less than a minute.
- 2
Hand above the terminal
On the next visit, holding a hand above the terminal is enough. No touch, no card, no phone.
- 3
Recognised and done
The checkout knows who is standing there: loyalty points are booked, the payment is confirmed, the door is open or the time registration is done.
What you do with it in the store
Loyalty without a loyalty card
Collect and redeem points without a card, app or phone number at the checkout. Because the vein pattern cannot be shared, your customer data really stays about one customer.
Age verification
Link a once-verified age to the palm. Nobody has to come over at the self-checkout for alcohol or tobacco any more.
Staff access
Back office, safe, delivery entrance, cold storage: only those who belong there get in. No badges passed from hand to hand.
Time registration
Clock in with your hand. Buddy punching is technically impossible, because the vein pattern only works with a living hand.
Vending and coffee corner
Staff consumption and vending machines without coins or a separate card, settled directly.
The safest biometric trait there is
A face can be faked. A fingerprint is left everywhere. A vein pattern sits beneath the skin, is visible nowhere, leaves no trace and only works with a living hand with blood flow.
An independent study by Ghent University (2025) assessed the privacy risk of the various biometric techniques. Palm vein biometrics ranked best in class, while facial recognition posed the highest risk.
See the full comparison of biometric techniques →Fits what you already have
Palmki Retail is not a closed system. The terminal connects to your existing checkout and access environment via OSDP v2, Wiegand, REST API or MQTT. For the checkout side and settlement we work with Alfa-Zet Systems, which has been building POS and automation solutions within the same group for years.
Roll out step by step: start with one store or one application, and expand once it works.
Comeos Awards 2026
Nominated for the Cupido Award 2026
The Belgian retail sector selected Palmki Retail as a nominee for the Cupido Award at the Comeos Awards on 14 October 2026 at Dome Eventhall in Brussels.
Frequently asked questions
What if a customer injures or bandages their hand?
During registration we can register both hands. Small cuts, calluses or dirt do not affect the reading, because the pattern lies beneath the skin.
Is a photo or scan of the hand stored?
No. The scan is converted into an encrypted template from which no image can be reconstructed. With Template on Card, that template also stays with the user.
Is this GDPR compliant?
Biometric data falls under article 9 of the GDPR. The basis is the customer's explicit consent: nobody is registered without clearly agreeing to it, and that consent can be withdrawn at any time. On top of that, Palmki can store the template on the user's own card or carrier (Template on Card) instead of in a central database, so processing stays limited and the user keeps control. Palmki also works stand-alone for those who prefer it. We guide you through the processing registers and the duty to inform.
Does it also work for children or older customers?
Yes. The vein pattern is stable from a young age and does not change with ageing, weight loss or tanned skin.
How fast is a transaction?
Recognition itself takes less than a second. For the customer it feels like a payment terminal, without the card.
What does it cost?
The price depends on the number of terminals, the integration with your checkout system and the desired service level. Request a tailored quote.
Do customers have to take part?
No. Customers choose whether to use Palmki, and if they do, they give their explicit consent. An alternative is always available.
See it work for yourself
Visit the Palmki Experience Center in Hasselt and put your hand on the terminal. On our demo days you get a short introduction and test everything yourself. Prefer it at your location? Then we come to you.